Electric switch.



P, T. MUNLLY.

ELECTRIC SWITCH.

APPLIUATION FILED DBO. 21, 1.909.

Patentedjagn. 10, 1.911.

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u y, MU VM W T WIT/VESSEL? P; T. MONALLY. ELEOTRIG SWITCH.

I APPLIGATIOH NLRB DEG. 21, 190D'.

l0, NH.

fa suma-SHEET 2 I WITH/58858:

-UNTED @lldltili PHILIP THOS. MCNALLY, OF MANDAN, NORTH DAKOTA.

ELECTRIC SWITCH.

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Specication of Letters Patent. Patented Jam. itt), 1911.

Application led December 21, 190B.

Serial No. 534,364.

To all whom it muy concern.'

lle it known that I, lnniir T. lvloNALLr, a citizen oli' the llnit'cd States, and resident of Mandan, in the county of Morton and State ol North Dakota. have invented cervtain new and useful .Improvements in Electric Switches, ot' which the followingr is a specification.

My invention relates` to snap switches for electric circuits, and it consists in the constructions and arrangeimnts hereinafter described and claimed.

The snap switch herein disclosed is similar in forni to that set iorth in my prior application No. 520,354, tiled inept. 30, 1909, hut dit't'ers from the latter in certain particulars which will be mentioned herein-' these "arms engage certain contacts, and in other positions, other contacts, the various contacts, being connected with the branch circuits to be controlled.

Further objects and advantages will appear in the following' specitication and the novel features of this device will he particularly pointed out' in the appended claims.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure l is a. side view, showing the operative parts of the switch. the` actuating mechanism therefor heine; shown in section, Fig'. Q is a section on the li'nc --2 ol Fig'. i. looking' in the direction of the arrows, Fig. 8 is a plan view ot the switch. Fig. 4t is a side view olE the device at right'. angles to that shown in ltigr. l.. Fin'. 5 is an enlarged 'vertical section along the line of Fig. 7. itin'. (3 .is a. similar view showing?r the barrel and plates in elevation, Fig. 7 is a horizontal. section along' the line T---l' ot' Fig. 5, Fig. 8 is a` perspective view ofthe sliding plate, Fig. 9 is a plan view oit the detent'` and retaining plate. and Fig'. 10 a plan view of the cani plate.

in carrying out my invention. I provide an insulating hase portion A otporcelain or These contacts are secured to the upright B by means or' clampingl screws D3. The upright C is provided with the spring con-1 tacts c which are on a line with the spring contacts b2 on the upright B. The upright l.) is provided with the spring contacts d which are below the ,contacts o, being in line with the contacts b, as clearly shown in Fig. 4. The uprights as will be seen from Fig. 2, are spaced 120o apart.

The construction of the release mechanism of the switch is best Seen from the detail Figs. 5 to 10, inclusive. From these figures it will he seen that l have provided a recess l on the upper part of the base, and a smaller recess @on the lower part. ln *the 'bottom of the upper recess 1 is secured a re- Ataining plate 3 (see Fig. 9) bearing an 111- -shown in Fig. l0, which is disposed innnediately above the detent and is secured, rigidly to the shaft.. The plate 5 is provided with a slot 5b arranged to receive a` pin 6 of a plate 6 which liesjahove the plate 5. .The plate 6 is arranged to slide baclrand forth between the lower ftangcs m of 'the barrel M. The plate (3 is provided with a downwardly l'n'ojectingr stop lug- GC which is arranged to engage the edges 4; of the detent- 4'. A sprint;` lV is provided. one end of which is attached to the harrel lVt and the other to the shaft ll, as shown in Fig. 5.. The lower end of the sha'l't E is journaled in the hase the end ol.E the shaft being` detachahly Ulll'tid. i'l'tlQ/U.

The harrel M hears the three laterally vcxtendinc; arms f. f. and 'lhese arms are carried. on a plate which is secured to the barrel. heilig suitably insulated from the plate, hut, all heine; in electrical'connection with each other. lhe arm f is an upper arm on a line with the high. contacts b2 and c, while the arms f and f2 are both low arms on a line with the contacts o" and cl.

' In order to show the use to which my switch. may he put, I have illustrated certain parts of a switch actuating;` device which may This actuating device consists of an annular "fggprovided with a rack Ja having teeth ar- .;h'ranged to mesh with the teeth of the gear Gr, and the rack may be rcciprocated by any suitable means. The gear Gr carries a pivoted pawl P which is under the tension ot the spring S, the latter serving to keepthe end of the pawl in engagement with the teeth on the ratchet H.

The .shaft E actuates the snap switch mechanism which releases by an eccentric movement. As4 the main switch spindle E is turned, the arms are carried around into and out of engagement with the stationary spring contacts on the base, as will be here` inafter explained.

fFroin the foregoing description of the valrio'us parts of the device, the operation thereof may be readily understood.

As stated before, the s'witcliis primarily designed for use with a reciprocating rack, the double movement of the rack operating to turn the switch 120", or a complete cycle in three successive movements. Fig. 3 shows the raclr envaging the teeth of the gear. A downward1 movement of the rack in this figure simply results in the gear being turned loosely on the shaft E, the end o the pawl riding over the tooth z, of the atchet H.

'In this figure l have shown. the ratchet H as being provided with three teeth. It might be provided with any number of teeth, since the throw of the rack is regulated to turn the gear practically a third of a revolution. Gn the return stroke of the rack, the pawl, which has engaged the ratchet, causes the rotation of the shaft E and this in turn causes the turning of the barrel M with a snapl action.

From an inspection of Fig. 7, it will be seen that-.as the shaft E is turned, the spring lV is put under tension, thereby tending to rotate the barrel M. The latter is kept from rotation by the plate 6 whose stop 6c is held by the detent 4. As thel shaft E is turned, however, the -plate which engages the ypin 6a moves the latter and the plate in the direction of the arrow. On turning the shaft. still further, the tension oi. the spring increases, and when the stop lug 6c clears the end of the detent 4, the barrel bearing the arms flies around until the stop strikes the edge 4*' oi. the adjusting teeth of the detent. Since these teeth are 120O apart,` the tui ning of the switch is exactly one'third of a revolation.V

. through these terminals will be broken.

ln Fig. 2, the high arm f is iii engageinent with the high contact b2, while the low arm f2 is in engagement with the low contacts d. l'he low arm f is below and there- `tore not in enffaeeinent with the hifrh contacts c.

Figs. 1, 2, and 4 illustrate the position of the switch when the circuit is completed bctween the standards B and D. The double reciprocation of the rack results in the high arm j' being swung around above the low Contact d, the low arm j will engage the low contacts o', while the aim f2 will pass under the high contacts c. .ln this position, there is no connection between any ot' the standards B, Cand D and hence the circuixt further turn of the switch brings the arm f into engagement with the high contact c, the low arm f into enfra'geinent with the low contacts (l, while theow arm f2 will engage the low contacts b. Both of the standards C and D will then be connected to the standard B, thus switchinfr in two branch circuits through the standards C and D. lt will thus be seen that by turning the switch, one or more lights maybe switched on, or the lights may be cut off entirely. It-

is obvious that instead of using a reciprocating rack, a buttonpniay be attached directly to the actuating shaft E and the switch. may be operated in the ordinary manner by manual means.

I claim: F y 1. A snap switch comprising an insulating base member, standards carried by said base member and disposed 120 apart, a high and a low contact carried by one of said standards,'a high contact carried by another ot' said standards, and a low contact carried by the third standard, a main switch spindle provided with a high arm and a pair of low arms, all of said arms being in electrical connection and adapted to engage the respective high and low contacts.

2. A snap switch comprising an insulating base member, standards carried by said base member and disposed 120 degrees apart, a high and a low contact carried by one .of said standards, a high contact carried by another of said standards, a main switch pro- I vided with a high arm and a arms, all of said arms being in electrical connection 'and adapted to engage the respective high and low contacts, and a three point detent for limitingeach movement of said arms to degrees.

PHILP THOS. MONALLY. Witnesses EDWARD MCHUGH, E. A. 'THORBERQ pair of low 

